The long overdue fourth album from these fine
popsters just might be their best yet, and finds the band putting more power
in their pop!Vegas with Randolphs
music has been called ebullient, unabashed power pop, thinking man's party
music, and blissful pop songwriting at its finest and their music has been
compared to Fastball, Sloan, Fountains of Wayne, and more. With their last two
CD's Above The Blue and "Rings Around The Sun", VWR followed their
eponymous debut with what has been called "Sheer Powerpop
Perfection". At the nucleus of VWR is the songwriting partnership of childhood
friends John Ratts and Eric Kern. Starting
in high school, the DC-area duo has penned hundreds of songs, and still are joined at the hip and their
guitars and writing songs, as they always have, when theyre not tending to
their own families and day jobs, dont play out or release new albums very
often, although their fans, many and plenty, wish that they would.This is a new-phase Vegas With Randolph
album that thunders across the plains with harder-edged chutzpah than their
previous releases. The guitars are louder and the sound is more aggressive. The
sound is more purposeful, but just as catchy and fun as always. We wanted to
kind of rock a little bit on this album, says John. This is clearly an
understatement of some kind, but make no mistake - Vegas With Randolph is a
band that has recorded, for this new album, songs with flashy hooks just as
they have done all along. This time around, though, there is perhaps a little
more oomph spitting out of the bands engine. This new-phase VWR is a
well-oiled and rocking machine. That the aforementioned oomph, in part,
powers the songwriting team of John and Eric is a given, but so does the
assembled co-conspirator contingent that plays along with them, skillfully and
dutifully, helping the co-pilots steer the ship (a mixed metaphor, I know).
Brock Harriss lyrical guitars and Andy Hamburgers thundering drums and
percussion are essential ingredients in VWRs new songs - indeed, the songs would
not be as alive without them - but the heart and soul of it all may well belong
to their bass player, the late and very much missed Dan Aylestock.The songs that make up this album, that
present the case for this band being the band of the moment, a band that has
come into its own because the songwriters and the players believe in the value
of their work more than ever before, are only part of the VWR equation; the way
that the songs are written, and how the band performs them, is the rest of
it.Employing the talents of Fountains
of Waynes Jody Porter (on Chick Fighter) and Texas popster Lannie Flowers,
who cowrote and plays on the lively rocker The Weekends Coming, certainly
helps to make this album memorable.And
rocking.  Alan Haber/PurePopRadioGREAT!!

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